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Aviation History
1915
1915 - 0820.PDF
Zeppelin must be found by an electric beam, or else it cannot be shot at. When a beam has found it, that beam must continue on the Zeppelin as it passes rapidly over London, or hand it over to another beam. The range of an electric light beam is considerably less than the range of a gun and may be sharply affected by atmospheric conditions. In some conditions of atmo sphere its range is very short indeed. Then the gunner must know the range within very narrow limits of accuracy, and the range will change as the Zeppelin moves. The time fuse of the shell must be set very accurately in order that the shell shall burst at the proper distance from the object. There are also difficulties with sighting, because sights are based upon range tables calculated for terrestrial targets, and therefore they are wrong when you begin to shoot up into the air. To put untrained and unpractised men to work guns under such conditions, Lord Sydenham suggested, was like expecting a man who had never before fired a gun to bring down driven grouse. What was wanted, he said, was for men who had been firing frequently at aircraft from the trenches to be brought over here, when very different results would be obtained. It is to be hoped this advice has in a measure already been followed, or some of our gunners from here drafted over to the trenches to get a little practical experience on their own. Lord Sydenham was not very concerned with the danger from our using anti-aircraft guns, as the shrapnel from time-fuse shells falls at such low velocity as to be practically harmless, except to those in the streets—and in this connection, the hint should be accepted to follow the instructions so persistently given by the police authorities, that the safest place for all and sundry is within doors. In regard to the past want of effort by those in power to forestall the visits of the Zeppelins, Lord Sydenham was in accord with us when he said that " what must astonish us most is the long delay in maturing any proper organisation to oppose these raids. We had ample warning, and threats in abundance. Yet nothing was done until recently to take the question in hand and deal with it properly." He also with sound reason criticised the divided authority which appeared to exist, his concluding remarks being to the effect that he was not quite sure that even now we could count on such a sound and complete organisation as would prevent any question of a division of responsibility, which implied in the long run that there was no responsibility at all. He hoped that this neglect had been entirely remedied, and that measures had at length been taken which would make these cowardly and brutal enterprises too dangerous to be undertaken. He was strongly opposed to reprisals in kind, but he believed that by proper organisation and proper handling of guns by men who knew how to use them we could soon assure ourselves that these raids would never be attempted again. All which sentiments we heartily applaud. When the subject cropped up again the next day in the Commons, the point raised was as to the advisability of the whole of the London area being publicly warned of any approaching raid, and we cannot help but be in thorough accord with the decision come to by the Government, as expressed through the Home Secretary, that of the two evils they preferred to select the lesser, and not announce a possible attack from the air. Already the general public have proved quite uncon cerned in regard to seeking refuge indoors. Their one idea is to get into the street and see the show. As this procedure has definitely been found to be their own undoing by adding considerably to the victims of the bombs, it would appear as the only possible course to pursue to let the brutes announce themselves when they have succeeded in reaching points which they consider worthy of their attention. As Sir J. Simons said : "After all, if you do tell the men, women and children of this metropolis that, it may be, in the course of an hour or two hours' time we shall be honoured with a visit from a Zeppelin, what exactly is it which the men, women, and children of London are expected to do ? Of course, if those who conducted those invasions were careful to do no damage to civilian life, if they really were prepared and were able to take precautions not to strike private property, it would be a very reasonable thing to secure that everybody went home, but our experience goes to show that, from want of will or want of power, the Zeppelin does not take the slightest consideration of that The view which is presented by the Admiralty, and which we have felt it right to adopt, is that on the whole it is better not to attempt to warn people of the suggested approach of these Zeppelins. The public must, therefore, understand that they must take their risk if they go to places where numbers of people are assembled at night. " This has not been some hasty, careless edict, part and parcel of what some people call the deliberate policy of the Government to conceal from the people of England the truth. It is nothing of the kind. This is a policy which has been adopted after most carefully weighing the pros and cons of the matter. " I believe there are some areas in England where the alternative policy has been tried. In one such area I know that the number of false alarms which have been given has produced a very great deal of consternation, and the total result is, to say the least of it, extremely doubtful from the point of view of promoting public safety. " Londoners may be perfectly satisfied that everything that can be done will be done in order to minimise the risk to which they may be put. Nobody can feel more keenly than the Government do the seriousness of the individual tragedies which have been created by these horrible attacks, but, after all, it is a risk which we here have got to bear. Great as the risk is, it is small in comparison with the daily and nightly risk run by our heroes in battle." This sound wind-up to a sound speech was greeted by the whole House with cheers, which we most heartily re-echo and commend the good advice given to the whole of our readers. Feathers indicate fairly clearly which way of the the Wind bIoWS' and S0 the relative iD? ~ ~\"""' .TT — ,"' r portance of activities at the front is R.F.C. naturally reflected in the official despatches and communiques which come from the various head quarters of the opposed Armies. In this connection the reports published this week are worthy of note. The official communiques from Sir John French, from Paris and from Berlin, all show a remarkable preponderance of space allotted to the work of the Flying services. In the British report of the 24th eight lines out of eighteen refer to the R.F.C. doings ; in the German despatch published the next day, eight lines out of eleven is the proportion, and in the French official communique of the 26th no less than seventeen lines out of nineteen are devoted to the work of the French air pilots. And aviation is as yet but in its swaddling clothes ! 820
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